ENVISCI
Terms
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- nonliving factors that influence the life and activities of an organism
- abiotic factors
- any accumulation of organic material produced by living things
- biomass
- living portions of the environment
- biotic factors
- the cyclic flow of carbon from the atmosphere to living organisms and back to the atmospheric reservoir
- carbon cycle
- animals that eat other animals
- carnivore
- two or more species of organisms reciprocally influencing the evolutionary direction of the other
- coevolution
- the relationship between organisms in which one organism benefits while the other is not affected
- commensalism
- interacting groups of different species
- community
- an interaction between two organism in which both require the same limited resource, which results in harm to both
- competition
- which states that no two species can occupy the same ecological niche in the same place at the same time
- competitive exclusion principle
- organisms that use other organisms as food
- consumer
- small organisms, like bacteria and fungi, that cause the decay of dead organic matter and recycle nutrients
- decomposer
- bacteria that convert nitrogen compounds into nitrogen gas
- denitrifying bacteria
- tiny particles of organic material that result from fecal waste material or the decomposition of plants and animals
- detritus
- a branch of science that deals with the interrelationship between organisms and their environment
- ecology
- a group of interacting species along with their physical environment
- ecosystem
- a parasite that is adapted to live on the outside of its host
- ectoparasite
- a parasite that is adapted to live within a host
- endoparasite
- everything that affects an organism during its lifetime
- environment
- a change in structure, behavior, or physiology of a population of organisms as a result of some organisms with favorable characteristics having greater reproductive success than those organisms with less favorable characteristics
- evolution
- the death of a species; the elimination of all the individuals of a particular kind
- extinction
- the series of organisms involved in the passage of energy from one trophic level to the next
- food chain
- intersecting and overlapping food chains
- food web
- bacteria that live in the soil and can convert nitrogen gas in the atmosphere into forms that plants can use
- free-living nitrogen-fixing bacteria
- the specific kind of place where a particular kind of organism lives
- habitat
- primary consumers; animals that eat plants
- herbivore
- the organism a parasite uses for its sources of food
- host
- competition between members of different species for a limited resource
- interspecific competition
- competition among members of the same species for a limited resource
- intraspecific competition
- one that has a critical role to play in the maintenance of specific ecosystems
- keystones species
- the one primary condition of the environment that determines population size of an organism
- limiting factor
- the association between organisms in which both benefit
- mutualism
- root-fungus associations
- mycorrhizae
- a process that determines which individuals within a species will reproduce more effectively and therefore results in changes in the characteristics within a species
- natural selection
- the total role an organism plays in its ecosystem
- niche
- The series of stages in the flow of nitrogen in ecosystems
- nitrogen cycle
- Bacteria that are able to convert ammonia to nitrate which can be converted to nitrate.
- nitrifying bacteria
- Bacteria that are able to convert the nitrogen gas in the atmosphere into forms that plants can use.
- nitrogen-fixing bacteria
- Animals that eat both plants and other animals.
- omnivore
- An organism adapted to survival by using other living organisms for nourishment.
- parasite
- A relationship between organisms in which one, known as the parasite, lives on or in the host and derives benefit from the relationship while the host is harmed.
- parasitism
- occurs when a predator kills and eats its prey
- predation
- An animal that kills and eats another organism
- predator
- An organism that is killed and eaten by a predator
- prey
- An animal that eats plants directly
- primary consumer
- An organism that can manufacture food from inorganic compounds and light energy
- producer
- The ability organisms have to succeed under a variety of environmental conditions. The breadth of this tolerance is an important ecological characteristic of a species.
- range of tolerance
- Animals that eats animals that have eaten plants
- secondary consumer
- A group of organisms that can interbreed and produce offspring capable A close, long-lasting physical relationship between members of two different species
- species
- Bacteria that grow within a plants root system and that can convert nitrogen gas from the atmosphere to nitrogen compounds that the plant can use.
- symbiotic nitrogen-fixing bacteria
- A stage in the energy flow through ecosystems
- trophic level
- An organism that carries a disease from one host to another
- vector